HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE!
If anyone has footage of their PRIDE Festival or makes a PRIDE video, please add it to the Channel.

The California Supreme Court ruling brings bitter news
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 (12:23 PM)

From HRC President Joe Solmonese:
The California Supreme Court ruling brings bitter news: Proposition 8 will stand.
While we take some solace that the loving couples who did marry in California will stay married, an estimated one million more individuals have been denied that dignity and right.
We are heartbroken. But we won't back down.
We will work relentlessly, organizing communities of faith and other allies   more...across the state, until Prop. 8 is repealed. It will take major resources to win – but the momentum of history is on our side.
HRC members from around the country have sent in beautiful images and messages of support in recent weeks. We'd like to share those with you now in a new video that expresses both our profound hurt and our fierce resolve to fight for equality. Watch the video. Look into the eyes of the people, LGBT and straight, who stand in solidarity today. And join the effort we must begin.

Watch the video and help HRC fight for marriage equality in California and across the country:
We Won't Back Down!

Today's decision hurts. But we have known this pain before. Ours is a movement powered by resilience. Once again, we will turn our anger into action.
In fact, we have already begun. To secure marriage equality, we know we must broaden, diversify and deepen faith-based support. So with California Faith for Equality, we have been building a coalition of clergy and lay leaders who will lead a long-term campaign of education and action. We will help train them to make equality part of their daily ministries. We'll give them the tools to be effective spokespeople who can speak of their faith and their belief in equality. We will also work with them to expand our volunteer base.
It's all about winning hearts and minds so we can repeal this hateful marriage ban, once and for all. And it's not just California. We need to keep the recent momentum for marriage equality alive until every loving couple across the nation has the right to marry.
HRC is committed to this fight, for as long as it takes. But we need to start NOW, and this effort will take significant resources. Please give us the critical support to begin.
Watch the video, pass it along to everyone you know, and support our work to fight for marriage equality everywhere. GIVE TODAY!
Our opponents may be celebrating at the courthouse steps today, but they are on the wrong side of history. In the end, equality will triumph over discrimination, because we will never, ever back down.
Warmly,

Joe Solmonese
President  less

Iowa Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
Ban Violated Constitutional Rights, State Supreme Court Rules
By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 4, 2009; Page A03

Iowa became the third state in the country and the first from the rural heartland to legalize same-sex marriage when its Supreme Court yesterday unanimously struck down the state's decade-long ban.

Gay advocacy groups hailed the decision as another example of same-sex marriage gaining traction in an increasing number of states,   more...despite a ballot initiative in California last year that banned it there. They also said the emphatic ruling probably will sway other courts, including California's Supreme Court, which must decide by early June whether the November referendum was constitutional.

"Justices look at opinions from other states," said Jennifer C. Pizer, the national marriage project director for Lambda Legal, which brought the Iowa case. "There's a significant likelihood that [the decision] will influence other states, like California."

Efforts to legalize same-sex marriage are also gaining political support. On Thursday, the state House in Vermont overwhelmingly approved a bill legalizing such unions, following a similarly lopsided vote earlier in the state Senate. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) has said he will veto the measure, but gay advocacy groups noted that the House vote was just four short of the number needed to override a veto.

On March 26, the state House in New Hampshire voted narrowly to allow same-sex marriage in that state, sending the bill to the Senate.

Before yesterday's ruling, only Massachusetts and Connecticut allowed same-sex marriage. New York has said it will recognize such unions performed in other states. California allowed same-sex marriage for about five months last year before the ballot initiative banned it.

The strongly worded decision by all seven justices of Iowa's Supreme Court moves the issue away from more liberal coastal states, where most of the legal and legislative action aimed at overturning bans on same-sex marriage has taken place. While Iowa is home to many conservative Christians and evangelicals, the decision adds to a strong liberal streak that has spawned politically progressive movements.

"Iowa really does have a very impressive visionary history when it comes to civil rights, from desegregation to public accommodation to the rights of women," said Ben Stone, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa.

The Iowa Supreme Court decision upholds a lower court's ruling that a 1998 state law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution.

"We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective," the justices wrote.

The decision will take effect in 21 days unless a rehearing is requested. Attorneys for Polk County, which challenged the earlier ruling, indicated that the county will not request a review, meaning that same-sex couples will be able to apply for marriage licenses in Iowa in three weeks.

The only other recourse for overturning the decision is a state constitutional amendment, which would take at least two years to be adopted.

At least one group opposed to same-sex marriage, the Liberty Counsel, said it plans to advance a referendum to amend the Iowa Constitution to prohibit same-sex unions. "The Iowa Supreme Court has become a proselytizing engine of radical social change," said Mathew D. Staver, the group's founder. "Untying the knot that holds together traditional marriage will unravel the family, destabilize the culture and harm children."

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) blasted the decision and vowed to effectively overturn it. "This is an unconstitutional ruling and another example of activist judges molding the Constitution  less

Ken Starr, who led the campaign to impeach President Bill Clinton, filed a legal brief last month -- on behalf of the "Yes on 8" campaign -- that would forcibly divorce 18,000 same-sex couples that were married in California last year before the passage of Prop 8.
Watch "Fidelity" (see it in the "Our Videos" section below) and be sure to go to the Courage Campaign site and sign the letter to the state Supreme Court before they hear oral arguments in the case on March 5. Tell the Supreme Court to   more...invalidate Prop 8, reject Ken Starr's case, and let loving, committed couples marry. DEADLINE EXTENDED: March 2.
303,893 people have signed this letter (as of Wednesday, February 18). Our new Courage Campaign community goal is 350,000 signers. Will you add your name now by clicking on the following link?:
Courage Campaign
We're also shooting for 1 million views combined. To help this video reach 1 million people, please tell your friends to watch "Fidelity" and tell their friends!
"Fidelity" used with permission from Regina Spektor and EMI Records.  less

The Ryan Skipper Murder Trial is now underway. One of the accussed murderers, Joseph Bearden, is now on trial in Barton, FL for the robbery and murder of Ryan Skipper because he was a "faggot". The trial is being aired live on TruTV (formerly CourtTV and online at CNN.com. For full details, see my latest blog:
Ryan Skipper Murder Trial